Of Course Tom Hardy Wants Christopher Nolan to Direct a ‘Bond’ Movie

We all got ourselves into a bit of a tizzy last fall when it looked like Daniel Craigmight step down from playing James Bond, or that he was thinking about stepping down, or that he was maybe offered a lot of money to stay, or a number of other rumors that turned out to be unfounded. Many still speculated about who would take his place, which led to countless interviews where it seemed every British actor was getting the question. Recently, when asked whether he’d like to step into 007’s shoes, Tom Hardy had another suggestion.

Speaking with The Daily Beast about those Bond rumors and the future of the Mad Max series, Hardy was asked whether he’d say yes to playing the iconic MI6 agent. At first he demurred, but was very enthusiastic about the idea of Christopher Nolan, whom he worked with on The Dark Knight Rises, in the director’s chair.

You know, there’s a saying amongst us in the fraternity of acting, and in the fellowship of my peer group, that if you talk about it you’re automatically out of the race. So I can’t possibly comment on that one! If I mention it, it’s gone. But Chris Nolan, what a fantastic director for a Bond movie. Because Daniel [Craig] is so good, and what [Sam] Mendes and Barbara [Broccoli] have done has been so impressive, that it would be a very hard reimagination to follow after. I wonder what the next installment of that franchise would become, and I think when you mention someone like Christopher Nolan, that’s a very powerful figure to bring into that world who could bring something new and create something profound—again.

The first bit of this is spot-on: no one who’s been asked about taking over the role has given an answer one way or another, but come on, who wouldn’t want to play James Bond? Heck, even I want to play James Bond! (Yoo-hoo, MGM, Columbia, are you listening?) The question of Nolan returning to direct another big franchise is another deal though, and we won’t know anything for sure until the plans for the 25th movie are announced. I have no doubt that something special is in the works for Bond’s silver anniversary, but we’ll just have to wait to find out what it is.